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Highlife

Peter Somuah

Highlife

Format: CD
Label: ACT music
UPC: 0614427800121
Catnr: ACT 80012
Release date: 01 November 2024
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1 CD
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Label
ACT music
UPC
0614427800121
Catalogue number
ACT 80012
Release date
01 November 2024
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
EN

About the album

The Highlife album is an ode to the Ghanaian tradition of highlife music and features the legends of the genre. Highlife has a unique sound with a distinctive finger-picking style of playing on the guitar, minimalistic yet groovy bass lines, percussive keyboard patterns, soulful melody lines by the brass section, and much emphasis on rhythm. The opening song of the album, We Give Thanks, features Pat Thomas, also known as “the golden voice of Africa”. Gyedu-Blay Ambolley, the first musician worldwide to incorporate rap into highlife music, appears on Chop chop. And 93-year old Koo Nimo, who was a leading highlife musician and the first Ghanaian to have their music be put on a CD, narrates some of the origins of the highlife genre.

On the ten-track album Peter Somuah, who grew up playing in highlife bands, mixes elements of the highlife genre with jazz, creating what he calls “highlife jazz”. The album emulates the vintage sound from the highlife era, with a modern touch. It also connects Ghana’s older and younger generations of musicians. Besides the members of his Rotterdam-based band, Somuah invited young Ghanaian musicians onto the album. Singer Lamisi Akuka features on African Continent and brings soulful musical influences from the northern part of Ghana, while Bright Osei Baffour provides traditional highlife riffs on the guitar and Thomas Botchway adds grooves on the talking drum.

More than on his previous two albums, Somuah also reflects on the political context he grew up in. In Mental Slavery Somuah sings of the remaining psychological impact of colonialism. Indeed, the very name of the highlife genre refers to the fact that it was originally mostly the colonial elite in Ghana (“high life”) that got to enjoy the music. And in Chop Chop, featuring artist Ambolley takes a dig at greedy political leaders.

The album conveys heartfelt messages of social justice, healing and gratitude but never fails to encourage the listener to swing along.

Artist(s)

Peter Somuah (trumpet)

Peter Somuah is a gifted jazz trumpeter who learned to play by listening endlessly to his trumpet heroes Miles Davis and Roy Hargrove. Somuah stands out with his warm and melancholic sound, as well as the rhythmic prowess reflecting his upbringing surrounded by the music styles native to West Africa. He touches his audiences and makes them groove. In 2021 Somuah won the Erasmus Jazz award for young jazz talent, and in 2022 he won the prestigious Edison Jazz Award with his debut album Outer Space. In his compositions, Somuah explores the boundaries between jazz, funk and traditional Ghanaian music, sprinkled with a hint of electronic music. He has performed his music at many stages already, including at the 2022...
more
Peter Somuah is a gifted jazz trumpeter who learned to play by listening endlessly to his trumpet heroes Miles Davis and Roy Hargrove. Somuah stands out with his warm and melancholic sound, as well as the rhythmic prowess reflecting his upbringing surrounded by the music styles native to West Africa. He touches his audiences and makes them groove. In 2021 Somuah won the Erasmus Jazz award for young jazz talent, and in 2022 he won the prestigious Edison Jazz Award with his debut album Outer Space. In his compositions, Somuah explores the boundaries between jazz, funk and traditional Ghanaian music, sprinkled with a hint of electronic music. He has performed his music at many stages already, including at the 2022 North Sea Jazz Festival and the 2023 ESNS.

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Anton de Bruin (keyboard)

Jesse Schilderink (tenor saxophone)

Marijn van de Ven (double bass)

Jens Meijer (drums)

Lamisi Akuka (vocals)

Pat Thomas (vocals)

Composer(s)

Peter Somuah (trumpet)

Peter Somuah is a gifted jazz trumpeter who learned to play by listening endlessly to his trumpet heroes Miles Davis and Roy Hargrove. Somuah stands out with his warm and melancholic sound, as well as the rhythmic prowess reflecting his upbringing surrounded by the music styles native to West Africa. He touches his audiences and makes them groove. In 2021 Somuah won the Erasmus Jazz award for young jazz talent, and in 2022 he won the prestigious Edison Jazz Award with his debut album Outer Space. In his compositions, Somuah explores the boundaries between jazz, funk and traditional Ghanaian music, sprinkled with a hint of electronic music. He has performed his music at many stages already, including at the 2022...
more
Peter Somuah is a gifted jazz trumpeter who learned to play by listening endlessly to his trumpet heroes Miles Davis and Roy Hargrove. Somuah stands out with his warm and melancholic sound, as well as the rhythmic prowess reflecting his upbringing surrounded by the music styles native to West Africa. He touches his audiences and makes them groove. In 2021 Somuah won the Erasmus Jazz award for young jazz talent, and in 2022 he won the prestigious Edison Jazz Award with his debut album Outer Space. In his compositions, Somuah explores the boundaries between jazz, funk and traditional Ghanaian music, sprinkled with a hint of electronic music. He has performed his music at many stages already, including at the 2022 North Sea Jazz Festival and the 2023 ESNS.

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Press

Play album Play album
01.
The Rhythm feat. Koo Nimo
01:03
(Peter Somuah) Peter Somuah, Jesse Schilderink, Anton de Bruin, Jens Meijer, Marijn van de Ven, Lamisi Akuka, Thomas Botchway, Pat Thomas, Gyedu-Blay Ambolley, Bright Osei Baffour, Danny Rombout
02.
We Give Thanks feat. Pat Thomas
04:19
(Peter Somuah) Peter Somuah, Jesse Schilderink, Anton de Bruin, Jens Meijer, Marijn van de Ven, Lamisi Akuka, Thomas Botchway, Pat Thomas, Gyedu-Blay Ambolley, Bright Osei Baffour, Danny Rombout
03.
Bruce Road
05:18
(Peter Somuah) Peter Somuah, Jesse Schilderink, Anton de Bruin, Jens Meijer, Marijn van de Ven, Lamisi Akuka, Thomas Botchway, Pat Thomas, Gyedu-Blay Ambolley, Bright Osei Baffour, Danny Rombout
04.
Drumbeat
04:29
(Peter Somuah) Peter Somuah, Jesse Schilderink, Anton de Bruin, Jens Meijer, Marijn van de Ven, Lamisi Akuka, Thomas Botchway, Pat Thomas, Gyedu-Blay Ambolley, Bright Osei Baffour, Danny Rombout
05.
Chop Chop feat. Gyedu-Blay Ambolley
04:46
(Peter Somuah) Peter Somuah, Jesse Schilderink, Anton de Bruin, Jens Meijer, Marijn van de Ven, Lamisi Akuka, Thomas Botchway, Pat Thomas, Gyedu-Blay Ambolley, Bright Osei Baffour, Danny Rombout
06.
Conqueror
04:03
(Peter Somuah) Peter Somuah, Jesse Schilderink, Anton de Bruin, Jens Meijer, Marijn van de Ven, Lamisi Akuka, Thomas Botchway, Pat Thomas, Gyedu-Blay Ambolley, Bright Osei Baffour, Danny Rombout
07.
Mental Slavery
04:59
(Peter Somuah) Peter Somuah, Jesse Schilderink, Anton de Bruin, Jens Meijer, Marijn van de Ven, Lamisi Akuka, Thomas Botchway, Pat Thomas, Gyedu-Blay Ambolley, Bright Osei Baffour, Danny Rombout
08.
Re-imagined
05:49
(Peter Somuah) Peter Somuah, Jesse Schilderink, Anton de Bruin, Jens Meijer, Marijn van de Ven, Lamisi Akuka, Thomas Botchway, Pat Thomas, Gyedu-Blay Ambolley, Bright Osei Baffour, Danny Rombout
09.
African Continent feat. Lamisi Akuka
04:29
(Peter Somuah) Peter Somuah, Jesse Schilderink, Anton de Bruin, Jens Meijer, Marijn van de Ven, Lamisi Akuka, Thomas Botchway, Pat Thomas, Gyedu-Blay Ambolley, Bright Osei Baffour, Danny Rombout
10.
Jamestown
05:29
(Peter Somuah) Peter Somuah, Jesse Schilderink, Anton de Bruin, Jens Meijer, Marijn van de Ven, Lamisi Akuka, Thomas Botchway, Pat Thomas, Gyedu-Blay Ambolley, Bright Osei Baffour, Danny Rombout

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